a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mask supporting apparatus and a light exposing system, and a method using the same, and more particularly, to a mask supporting apparatus that can securely support a mask using vacuum to improve uniform flatness, thereby enhancing patterning precision, and to an exposing system and method using such a mask fixing apparatus.
b) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, flat panel displays such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) have been widely employed to a variety of applications such as personal computers and TVs. As is well known, the LCD comprises a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer between the TFT substrate and the color filter substrate. Here, the elements such as the TFT, pixel electrodes, and the color filter are formed through a well known photolithography process.
As a size of the LCD is enlarged, it is a general tendency that a size of a mask used for patterning the elements on the substrate as well as a size of the substrate is enlarged.
As the mask is large-sized, a drooping phenomenon is incurred which makes it difficult to precisely form a pattern on the substrate during a light exposing process.
Accordingly, to address this problem, a light exposing apparatus with a special fixing unit for fixing the large-sized mask has been developed.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional light exposing system.
As shown in the drawing, a conventional light exposing system comprises a light source 1, a mask 5 provided with a predetermined pattern 3 and disposed under the light source 1, a plurality of bars 4 for supporting the mask 5, and a mounting base for mounting a display substrate on which a predetermined pattern will be formed by light passing through the mask 5.
Light emitted from the light source 1 transmits on a transparent glass 2 and the pattern 3 of the mask 5, and reaches the display substrate 8. Then, the predetermined pattern is formed through an etching process.
However, a method for supporting the large-sized mask using the bars still has a limitation in effectively supporting the mask.
Furthermore, since the light emitted from the light source may be refracted by the bars, the patterning precision may be deteriorated.